Seoul to host meeting of nat'l Olympic bodies this week

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- Seoul will host a meeting of more than 200 national Olympic bodies this week, one year after losing the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) and the Seoul metropolitan government will jointly host the 26th General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) from Tuesday to Friday. Meetings and other related functions will take place at the Convention and Exhibition Center (COEX) in southern Seoul.

South Korea previously hosted the fifth ANOC meeting in 1986 and then the 15th edition in 2006.

This year's ANOC General Assembly will be a gathering of 205 national Olympic committees, with some 800 sports officials, including International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and heads of international sports governing bodies, in attendance.

An executive committee meeting Tuesday will be followed by main meetings of the General Assembly on Wednesday and Thursday, with a press conference scheduled for Thursday as well. An election for the next ANOC chief and leadership group will also take place this week.

During the week, organizers of the next three Olympics Games -- the 2024 Paris Summer Games, the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics and the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games -- will update ANOC members on their preparations.

The KSOC will host the welcome reception Tuesday, followed by the ANOC Awards ceremony Wednesday and a dinner hosted by Seoul on Thursday.

Seoul had been chosen as the host of the 25th General Assembly for November 2020, but it was postponed to October 2021 due to the pandemic. The 25th meeting was later relocated to Greece and Seoul ended up getting the 26th edition.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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